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Album:
"Fundamental
Slavery" (2000) |
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Reviewed by: Darklight Transum is an electronic band that mix a lot of different genres on this disc. There is a blend of electro-pop, darkwave and electro-industrial to be found here. However, these different styles don't go together very well. The first track "Prey For Something" has an alternative rock edge to it with touches of Nine Inch Nails. Track two "Decay" is a light sounding electro-pop song with an '80s vibe. Track three "29" is an energetic angry and aggressive industrial song with growling vocals. Track four "Slowly Draining" is a dreary darkwave song with cold orchestrated music and goth style singing. Track five "The Way To Your Tomorrow" is a mid-tempo electro rock song with pop hooks. Track six "Unassisted" is a slow cold dark dramatic song with acoustic guitar and a combination of whispered vocals and deep gothic singing. Track seven "Loser Again" is another energetic aggressive electro-industrial song with driving rhythms and beats and angry vocals. Track eight "Underland" is an '80s sounding synth-pop song with well programmed music and good clean singing. Track nine "Love My Way" is a nice cover of the Psychedelic Furs classic. Track ten "Fundamental Slavery" is n energetic EBM instrumental. While I do like variety, I also like bands to stick with what they do best. In this case, it's my opinion that this band shows their true potential on the fast paced electro-industrial tracks with angry growling vocals. The more '80s sounding electro-pop songs and dreary darkwave songs just don't cut it. The singer struggles too much to carry a tune which makes the more melodic songs sound amateurish. Also, the music is too sparse without enough happening in it. The best songs on this disc are: "29", "Loser Again", "Underland", "Love My Way" and "Fundamental Slavery". This band should focus its energy more toward these type of tracks in the future as they really show what this project is capable of. This band does show a lot of promise on this CD. I think with a bigger budget and better direction this act could really put out some impressive material. I hope a label picks them up soon as I would like to hear a tighter, more polished, better produced CD from them in the near future. |
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